Communicating without Texting: The Key to Healthy Relationships

Kate Hafner’s article, “Texting May Be Taking a Toll” claims that texting is an issue to teenagers around the world. As an illustration, Hafner starts the article by identifying that teenagers send a drastic amount of texts in their everyday lives. according to the Nielsen Company, “American teenagers sent and received an average of 2,272 text messages per month in the fourth quarter of 2008”(1). This is just one of the examples of many that portrays teenagers around the world send many text messages. Along with teenagers sending many texts a day, hafner also shows in this article that texting is affecting teenager's life in many different ways for example, preventing teenagers' way of becoming independent. Just as professor Turkle presented,

Imagine that you are in a long distance relationship where your significant other lives across the country. Talking on the phone and texting are both ways of communicating today; however, talking on the phone is more effective in relationships. Long-distance couples need trust, love, and loyalty, but most of all, they need to hear each other’s voice at times. Talking on the phone has been a method of communication for decades, but texting is relatively new. Although texting is more popular today, talking on the phone seems to build relationships better and easier.

Texting allows us to stay in touch with others in a most efficient way. We type a quick text, hit send, and in a matter of seconds our recipient has our text. Receiving a text is fast, but typing out a clear, concise

Texting is very impersonal and not a substitute for real conversations because you cannot see the other person’s expressions and emotions. Texting each other is also not the same as having a real conversation because the definition of a conversation is “the informal exchange of spoken words” according to the dictionary. You cannot tell if they thrilled, uncomfortable, or sad because you cannot hear them. People lose interest in each other without real conversations (Psycentral’s article 5). This leads to a decline in real friendships or relationships. Sure you can text 50 different people at once, but you cannot replicate a real conversation with any of those people. The more you text your friends, rather than really conversing with each other, the more you’re isolating yourself from real

Texting is a fast and efficient way of communicating. Whether it comes to contacting your distant friends or receiving emergency information from your doctor, you can get responses form the person you are texting in more seconds. Many of us are

Today, from toddler to senior citizen uses phone. The most used applicable applications in phone are the text or SMS. I wonder how many people even know what does SMS stands for. We use the short message service to communicate easily because it’s short and quick. The two articles “2b or not 2b” by David Crystal and “We Never Talk Anymore: The Problem with Text Messaging” by Jeffrey Kluger both talks about communicating through texting and our use of language. Crystal is in favor for texting and Kluger is against texting. I agree with Kluger when it comes to this topic, I feel learning how to have a conversation face to face is very important. “I talk to kids and they describe their fear of conversation,” says Turkle. “An 18-year-old I interviewed

As this article state about the cons of using modern ways of communication and lacking of feelings, I feel that at some extend, I agree with author’s opinion. As Jim Taylor points out, “Kids want to be hugged and touched; they don’t want to be texted. There’s basic need to fill that social bond” (Johnson, Chandra), this explains the truth. We can not always express the feelings of sympathetic and empathetic through texting or phone call. This modern technology did change our lifestyle. In addition, people do use texting or other messaging applications to avoid complications talks instead of talking to another person face to face and also create a language barrier between them.

Text messaging can also be a convenient way to reach parents. Many parents work and may find it difficult to be able to answer a phone call. Text messaging allows parents to respond quickly to a question or concern. Parents are also more likely to ask a teacher a question if they have multiple ways to reach her.

Some teenagers believe that text message communication enables them to express their feelings freely and sincerely to someone. This is why

I don’t like to text.people it gets boring.I would rather go see the person than texting because it is better to do. People who text all the time stay at home and don’t go nowhere most of the time.

Texting has become the normal way of communicating with others in this generation. This is scary because to be completely honest, even though I know I am attached to my phone, I do realize that certain conversations I am having via text would be more effective and personal if I were to pick up the phone and call the person rather than being limited to 130 characters of letters onto a screen. One cannot understand the others tone of voice through a simple text message which is why some relationships and friendships are ruined due to texting.

Can you imagine your life without texting? Texting can be very addictive to some people which leads to them using there phone while they walk down a street or cross the street, this can cause dangers. Texting has a negative affect on people because of addiction, loosing sleep, and it can lead into tasks taking longer.

The ability to communicate quickly and efficiently allows for the transmission of important data instantaneously. One such example of this is emergency text messages that can be provided to individuals for natural disasters. Should a natural disaster be about to affect an area such as a tornado, sever storm, flood, etc., people that live in that area can have emergency texts sent to their phones to warn them about the impending danger. This can literally save the lives of those who would have been otherwise caught unaware of the potential danger that they were in. Additionally, text messaging allows for people to maintain personal relationships with those that they do not have the ability to see on a regular basis. As a study showed, the average teenager uses the text message for about 54% of their interactions with their friends. Face-to-face talking was actually the third most used method of communication, weighing in at 33%. The ability of instant, efficient communication that the text message provides can help people maintain a relationship with a friend when the two literally live on opposite sides of the country (Minshall, 2012).

Texting has many effects. When I think of texting many dangerous and unethical behaviors come to mind. We all know texting has a brief history, many people prefer texting to talking on the phone, and texting has its own problems when misuse. When we are texting communication is lost and is in considered of others and mostly affecting people’s health.

Texting is an easier way to have small conversations and is more convenient. Texting can be faster and easier than calling. Although it is faster and easier, it can cause confusion or take longer because of further explanation. When reading a message, you have to interpret the emotion and tone of voice used. Sometimes a nice remark can be perceived as offensive or sarcastic when texted. Texting takes full concentration and thought, making it organized and professional. Texting can be documented in order to refer back to previous conversations. You can save memories from the past and communicate and send pictures through text messages. Texting is a quick, easy way to communicate, but for long or personal conversations, you may want to make a phone